Postseason looms for golfers

September 19, 2013

With Autumn settling in, unpredictable weather changing plans and colder temperatures signaling jacket weather, the local high school golf teams are finding their usual scores fluctuating with the change of the season. Tyler Consolidated's team participated in two matches, while the Wildcats of Paden City took part in one.

On Sept. 11, the Silver Knights hosted a make-up meet a the Sistersville Country Club, hosting Paden City. Unfortunately, this match ended early due to lightning, but eight holes were completed.

"Wednesday's match at home was called on account of lightning after most players had completed eight of nine holes," said Knight head coach, Joe Griffith. "This was already a make-up match from the August 21 match that was cancelled because of lightning. Nathan Tallman, the Paden City coach, and I decided to just count the first eight holes completed by each player, rather than try to replay the match at some future time. Mathematically extrapolating our team score from eight holes to nine would give us a total of about 195, which would be our best score in a match at home this season."

Article Photos

Sean Camerlin

Dean Frye

Team scores for eight holes that day were recorded as Tyler Consolidated with 174 and Paden City, 194.

Nathan Kemp was the low-man on the day with a score of 38. Sean Camerlin scored 47; Ty PRatt, 43; Adam Cooper, 49; and John Lancaster, 46.

Individual scores for the Knights were again led by Kemp who shot a 46/42 for an overall 88 on the day. Pratt shot a 90; Adam Cooper, 95; John Lancaster, 96; and Sean Camerlin, 101.

"I had a bad day in the rain," said Camerlin of his score. "I hope to improve going into the last two weeks of the season."

The overall medalist for the match was Steubenville Central's Austin Maranoff who shot a 69 on the day, two under par for the course.

"At the OVAC Tournament, we watched the skies all day," Griffith said. "Based on the radar, we thought we might have to cut the tournament to nine holes, but it only rained for about 15 minutes, with no lightning or thunder. So all of the players were able to get in a complete round."

"Many of our players came back into the clubhouse unhappy with how they played, but our final team score was the best of any 18-hole tournament this season. Considering the hard rain we got, plus the wet conditions the rest of the day, I thought that we played about as well as I expected."

"Out of the seven teams we faced, we beat the three that I thought we should have beaten, lost to the three that I knew we wouldn't beat, and came close to the one other team that I thought we had a chance to beat. So the players did what they should have."

"It's nice to see the kind of late-season improvement that our team has been showing, and I hope that it continues as we head into the LKC and Regional Tournaments."

With Regional play scheduled for the end of Sept. the Knights season record now stands at 19-43. The team will play at home on Sept. 18 hosting Linsly, Magnolia and Paden City/ and take part in the LKC Tournament at Mingo Bottom on Sept. 23. The team will host their annual Parents Night outing on Sept. 25 at the Sistersville Country Club.